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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24278572">Starry-eyed Skulls</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/pulsecameo/pseuds/pulsecameo'>pulsecameo</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Ultra Sun &amp; Ultra Moon | Pokemon Ultra Sun &amp; Ultra Moon Versions, Pokemon - Fandom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, F/M, Fluff, I'm Bad At Tagging, Mental Health Issues, No Smut, emotionally constipated mc, i'm only slightly ashamed, like slooooooooooow, self-indulgent fic, slowburn, we love that angst, what even are tags anyway</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-03 01:00:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,615</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24278572</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/pulsecameo/pseuds/pulsecameo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>On the run from a dangerous past, Cameo, a trainer of questionable skills, runs to Alola in hopes of starting over.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Guzma (Pokemon)/Original Female Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Good Ol' Alolan Hospitality</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>After an exhausting journey, Cameo finds herself in Malie City with nothing but her Wooper and some very important cargo. Good thing she knows exactly what she's doing...right?</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>     Alola was hot.</p><p><br/>     Cameo’s poor Sinnohan body dripped in sweat before she even got off the boat at Malie Port. The ticket vendor in Canalave could’ve at least mentioned...granted he probably assumed she knew where Alola was in the first place, and that was a pretty bold assumption. Cameo had always been pitiful in geography.</p><p><br/>     Even walking around barefoot and in glorified pajamas, Cameo wasn’t sure she’d make it long in the heat...and the humidity! Was it normal to feel air? She felt like she was suffocating, and breathing was only making it worse. She looked around at the locals. None of them appeared to be dying. Apparently this climate was survivable...maybe.</p><p><br/>     What a place to start over.</p><p><br/>     Cameo clutched her only pokeball as if letting go would kill her. The capsule shook slightly under her fingers, as if the Wooper inside was trying to force his way out. Cameo cracked a smile. “You’d hate the heat, Chester,” she muttered to the pokeball.</p><p><br/>     As if to say <em>what do you know?</em> the pokeball burst open of its own accord and Chester situated himself proudly in Cameo’s arms. “<em>Uupah</em>!</p><p>”<br/>     “Chester, really!?” Cameo rolled her eyes but tucked his pokeball away. “Alright. I’ll carry you for a bit. Suppose you’re happy to get some fresh air, huh?” She cracked another smile and gave his face a poke. “But don’t say I didn’t tell you so when you get too hot. Goof.”</p><p><br/>     “<em>Uup!</em>”</p><p><br/>     “Amen to that. What do you reckon we should do, buddy?” She couldn’t wander aimlessly around Malie City forever. Eventually she and Chester had to find a place to crash. How much money did she have left? Not much. The ticket to Alola had eaten most of her funds, and while she’d managed to win a battle or two on the boat, she was still dangerously low on money.</p><p><br/>     <em>I guess it wouldn’t be the first time we slept on a park bench.</em> But something about roughing it seemed less frightening here in Alola than it would’ve been in Sinnoh--like the air here was...friendlier. Although that might’ve been the temperature.</p><p><br/>     She wandered past the shops, grimacing everytime she caught her reflection in a window. The space-age teal bowl-cut required by her past employers mocked her, both as a crime against fashion and with the memories of actual crime it brought up.</p><p><br/>     “Alola, miss! Your pokemon is cute!”</p><p><br/>     Startled, Cameo looked around and found a middle-aged woman quickly approaching her. “Oh, thanks,” Cameo replied.</p><p><br/>     <em>Human interaction...with actual humans. My arch nemesis.</em></p><p><br/>     The woman stopped in front of Cameo and didn’t hesitate to bend down to Chester’s level and start making cute faces at him. Chester cooed and chirped happily at the attention. Cameo was less than thrilled. <em>Hello? Ma’am?</em></p><p><br/>     “Oooh, he’s absolutely precious! I could just pinch his little cheeks!” the woman squealed.</p><p><br/>     “I wouldn’t recommend that, he’s actually—” but it was too late. The woman pulled her hand back with a yelp.</p><p><br/>     “...poisonous,” Cameo finished.</p><p><br/>     “N-no kidding!”</p><p><br/>     “It won’t kill you. I’ve had him for so long I don’t even feel it anymore.”</p><p><br/>     “Really?” Knowing she was safe from any permanent harm, the woman’s interest was renewed. “He must be an incredible little pokemon.”</p><p><br/>     “Well, I think he’s pretty great at least.” <em>Ma’am, how long do you intend to keep this conversation going?</em> Cameo wasn’t used to being friendly. Or shooting the breeze with strangers. Or really talking to anyone. And she didn’t particularly like any of it.</p><p><br/>     “I’ve never seen anything like him here in Alola. Where are you two from?”<br/>     “Sinnoh.”</p><p><br/>     “Oh! How marvelous, I was trying to place your accent! Did you just arrive? Do you need help around the city?”</p><p><br/>     Cameo pursed her lips. <em>Someone help.</em> “If you could just point me to the Pokemon Center, that’d be great. I’d really just prefer to wander and find everything myself.”</p><p><br/>     The woman pointed her in the right direction and Cameo practically ran for her life. She vaguely remembered someone on the boat mentioning “good ol’ Alolan hospitality.” <em>They weren’t kidding!</em> She prayed to avoid another interaction like that. <em>Should’ve just gone to Kanto. Would’ve been cheaper anyway.</em> But it was definitely too late now.</p><p><br/>     Pokemon Centers looked different in Alola than they did in Sinnoh, with their cafes to one side and shops to the other. But the nurse’s station was still the same. Cameo and Chester breathed small sighs of relief as the building’s air conditioning washed over them.</p><p><br/>     “<em>Uupaaah.</em>”</p><p><br/>     “You said it, bud.” Cameo ran a hand through her sweaty hair, which was really starting to bother her. “Do you actually need a rest? I know I asked for directions here, but I kinda only did it to get out of conversation…”</p><p><br/>     “<em>Uup.</em>”</p><p><br/>     “Yeah, I guess it can’t hurt. Back in your ball with you.” Chester obediently withdrew back into his pokeball. Cameo walked up to the nurse’s station and handed Chester over to the nurse, who healed him and handed him back with only the standard conversation. Not knowing where to go next, and not wanting to head back out into the sun, Cameo sat herself down at a table by the cafe counter.</p><p><br/>     “Well, whaddaya think, Chester?” she sighed to his pokeball. “Here we are. It took us three days to walk from Veilstone to Canalave, and another week and a half to get here. They definitely know we’re gone by now. You, me, and our very precious cargo.”</p><p><br/>     Her hand drifted to her chest as she spoke, as if making sure that precious cargo was still safe between her sports bra and her skin. Perhaps it wasn’t the most glamorous place to carry something important, but it worked.</p><p><br/>     “This might’ve been the most stupid decision I’ve ever made, Chester. And that’s saying something, y’know? I’m real good at stupid decisions. Well, you know that already.” She laughed. “But I guess the likelihood of them coming all the way to Alola to look for us is slim, right?” <em>I hope.</em> “And if they don’t find us, then they don’t find the...you know.”<br/>She glanced around nervously. Despite knowing that nobody here would know what she was talking about, she was too on edge to say it. “Still...can’t believe the only pair of shoes I owned was from that dumb uniform. No way was I walking halfway across Sinnoh in those. Would’ve given me away immediately, right? But man, my feet hurt.”</p><p><br/>     She gave a halfhearted smile. Chester’s pokeball shook once. A sudden gravity hit her, like the weight of what she’d done had finally fallen squarely on her shoulders. Her grip on Chester’s pokeball tightened.</p><p><br/>     “I’m so sorry,” she whispered to it. “I should’ve done this sooner. I never should’ve even...I’m so sorry.”</p><p><br/>     If she could still cry, tears would’ve been streaming down her face. But that capability had left her years ago.</p><p><br/>     Shaking her head, she found herself standing up abruptly. “Alright, I’m getting rid of this stupid haircut if it’s the last thing I do. And in this heat, it may very well be.”</p><p><br/>     She marched out of the Pokemon Center with purpose in her gait. <em>We’re free of Team Galactic. And with any luck, they won’t find us or what we took.</em></p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Someone Get This Girl a Pokedex</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Cameo's first night and second day in Alola lead to discoveries of some very interesting pokemon, and some even more interesting people.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Cameo ended her first day in Alola with a shaved head, 236 pokedollars to her name, and a feeling of renewal. She and Chester had gone exploring on Route 10 and found enough berries to make a decent meal (along with being <em>rudely</em> attacked by some weird purple crab), and the two now sat together in Malie Garden, snacking on their harvest. The setting sun cast orange rays across the water. Cameo smiled slightly at the sight. Alola may have been hot, but it sure was beautiful.</p><p>Chester finished one last berry and hopped over towards the mud at the edge of the pond. Cameo dove to stop him but she wasn’t quick enough. The pokemon leapt and sunk happily into the mud, while Cameo fell face first into it. “Chester, I swear…”</p><p>He only blinked innocently at her.</p><p>Grumbling, Cameo tried to get the mud off her face. At least she didn’t have hair to get it out of anymore.</p><p>Chester smiled wide. “<em>Upaaah!</em>”</p><p>“Wait Chester no—!”</p><p>Too late. Chester spat a water gun at Cameo’s face. Cameo shrieked as the mud on her scalp dripped onto her just-cleaned face. A group of tourists across the pond all turned to look at her. She caught a few of the kids in the group pointing and laughing at her. She shrugged it off and pulled Chester out of the mud.</p><p>“Look at you, causing a scene,” she grumbled. “Getting mud in my eyes. Hey, take a quick jump in the pond and clean yourself off.”</p><p>Chester happily obeyed.</p><p>“And don’t water gun me again!”</p><p>But her annoyance with him quickly melted away as she watched him splash around. He looked so happy.</p><p>He’s lucky, Cameo thought. Team Galactic didn’t get the chance to suck his soul out like they did with me.</p><p>She passed the evening quietly in Malie Garden. The garden cleared out once night fell, leaving Cameo and Chester alone. The night was cool and peaceful, but the sounds of strange wild pokemon kept Cameo from sleeping well. She gave up after waking up eye-to-eye with a horrifyingly large red spider for the fifth time. She picked her way through the grass to the garden’s entrance, keeping a tight grip on Chester’s pokeball.</p><p>The sun only began to peek over the horizon. Pale light cast a sickly hue over Malie City. Nobody was out yet, save the few unfortunate souls who had to work this early in the morning. Cameo was relieved to find the temperature at a manageable level, though she knew it wouldn’t last.</p><p>Leaving the city behind, she wandered onto Route 11. It was early enough that she wouldn’t have to worry about trainers, but she could still familiarize herself with the wild pokemon. Maybe Chester was up for a few battles.</p><p>It only took her a few minutes to realize that in order to familiarize herself with pokemon, she needed to know what to call them besides “doot doot beak thing,” “lazy koala,” and “leaf panda.”</p><p>She and Chester trained against the wild pokemon until the sun was high and the trainers came out. She couldn’t completely avoid them either, and ended up battling most of them anyway--although she climbed a tree to avoid the black belt with the oversized pink teddy bear. Something in that thing’s eyes spelled danger, and she didn’t want to go anywhere near it.</p><p>With the sun directly overhead and Chester whining hungrily, Cameo decided to take a break and head back to the city. The air was hot and humid, but the ground felt soft beneath her feet. Whether coming here was a bad decision or not, at least it was a bad decision in a tropical paradise.</p><p>A voice pulled her out of her musings. “Hey, baldy!”</p><p>Cameo didn’t even flinch. <em>Maybe if I ignore it, it’ll go away.</em></p><p>“Yo, baldy, we’re talkin’ to you! What are you, deaf!?” another voice asserted.</p><p>It was not going away.</p><p>With an exasperated sigh, Cameo turned around. “My name’s not baldy.”</p><p>She was a little surprised to see the two men in matching outfits--black and white with a skull motif--but her surprise quickly flared into alarm. <em>Matching outfits. Obvious logo. Those are uniforms. That’s a team.</em> Before either of them could speak again, Cameo demanded, “What do you want!?”</p><p>“Well that’s an easy question there,” the second one sneared from behind his bandana. “Hand over your pokemon. We know you’ve got something rare.”</p><p>“Good on you for asking first, but over my dead body.”</p><p>The first grunt took a step forward. “Don’t make us fight you for it, yo!”</p><p>A hollow laugh escaped Cameo’s mouth. “Don’t make that mistake.”</p><p>Her face stayed emotionless, but she screamed inside: <em>Take the bluff, take the bluff, take the bluff!</em></p><p>“Yo, you think you’re hot stuff? Put your money where your mouth is! C’mon Salandit!”</p><p>
  <em>Dung!</em>
</p><p>A charcoal-gray salamander burst out of the grunt’s pokeball. Cameo forced herself not to make a face. <em>Can someone</em> please<em> just use something from the Sinnoh pokedex!?</em>

</p><p>She sent out Chester. “Alright buddy, let’s show these jokers.”</p><p>
  <em>“Upaah!”</em>
</p><p>Her assailant paused. “That’s...that’s it? Looks harmless, yo.”</p><p>Cameo scowled. “Use mud shot.”</p><p>
  <em>“Paaah!”</em>
</p><p>“Wait—!”</p><p>Chester’s attack hit the Salandit (if that’s what it was called) right in the face. The effect was astonishing. The poor pokemon fainted immediately. A tiny flicker of surprise flashed across Cameo’s face, but she quashed it before anyone noticed. Her opponent’s saucer eyes were much more memorable.</p><p>Cameo recalled Chester. “What was that about harmless?”</p><p>“Don’t get cocky just because you had a double type advantage,” the grunt grumbled.</p><p>
  <em>Really? I thought that thing was dark type.</em>
</p><p>The second grunt stepped forward. “Alright, you’re pretty tough...but it’s about to get rough!” With a flourish, he sent out his pokemon.</p><p>“Zubat!” Cameo squealed, thrilled enough to see a pokemon she recognized that she forgot the demeanor she was supposed to be keeping up for a second. Her face flushed and she coughed. “C-c’mon Chester. One more tail to kick.”</p><p>“You won’t be kickin’ no one’s tail, baldy! Use supersonic!”</p><p>“<em>My name. Isn’t. Baldy</em>,” Cameo hissed through gritted teeth. “Chester, use—”</p><p>“What do you two numbskulls think you’re doing?” a new voice interrupted.</p><p>The battle screeched to a halt. Cameo and her assailants all turned to face the new arrival. A woman with long pink and yellow pigtails and heavy eye makeup sat comfortably in the branches of the nearest tree, staring down disapprovingly at the group. She wore similar clothing to the two men, but Cameo guessed she outranked them.</p><p>“Plumes!” the first grunt exclaimed.</p><p>The woman leapt down from her branch and landed gracefully on her feet. “How many times, you two? There’s no point taking from someone who’s already got nothing.”</p><p>Cameo didn’t know whether to be relieved or insulted.</p><p>“But Plumes, she’s got a rare pokemon!”</p><p>“He’s not even rare,” Cameo muttered before she could stop herself. “Woopers are a pokedollar a dozen in Sinnoh.”</p><p>“Well we ain’t in Sinnoh, are we? C’mon Plumes, we could—”</p><p>The woman shut him up with a withering look. Turning back to Cameo, she said, ‘Don’t take this the wrong way, but you look like you could use some help.”</p><p>“Was it the pajamas or the lack of shoes?” Cameo grumbled, recalling Chester back into his pokeball.</p><p>“It’s the dirt and the smell, actually. What’s your name?”</p><p>“Who’s asking?”</p><p>The woman made a weird face. “...Me?”</p><p>Cameo hesitated, then answered against her better judgement, “It’s Cameo.”</p><p>“Cameo, huh? Listen, I can tell you’re too stubborn to take this offer but if you need a place, come find us in Po Town. Tell ‘em Plumeria sent you.”</p><p>The woman--Plumeria--turned to walk away without waiting for a response, but Cameo crossed her arms and said, “Alright, I’m just gonna say this straight: what’s the ulterior motive here?”</p><p>Startled, Plumeria turned back around. “Who salted your malasada?”</p><p>Having no idea what a malasada was, Cameo decided not to answer that question. “People in uniform always have an ulterior motive.”</p><p>Plumeria glanced at the two grunts beside her. “...All of us were in a position like yours at one point. C’mon you two.”</p><p>She turned again and finally walked away. The two grunts followed her like dutiful ducklings. Cameo watched them go.</p><p>“Well that was...interesting,” she muttered to Chester’s pokeball. “C’mon, let’s go back to Malie.”</p>
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